First SCOTUS Member Officiates at Gay Wedding

Posted on Sep 2, 2013

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg conducted the marriage ceremony between her close friends Michael M. Kaiser and John Roberts. The wedding took place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, only a few months after the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. As of now, gay marriage is legal in 13 states.

The ceremony took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, where Kaiser is president. Salon reports Kaiser and Ginsburg’s statements on the wedding:

“It’s very meaningful mostly to have a friend officiate, and then for someone of her stature, it’s a very big honor,” Kaiser told the Associated Press. “I think that everything that’s going on that makes same-sex marriage possible and visible helps to encourage others and to make the issue seem less of an issue, to make it just more part of life.”

In a Friday statement, Ginsburg called Kaiser “a friend and someone I much admire.”

She added, “That is why I am officiating at his wedding.”

Ginsburg also reportedly said she thought the other Supreme Court members hadn’t previously been asked to preside at a same-sex wedding for fear doing so could “compromise their ability to hear a case on the issue.” Thanks to Ginsburg, among other justices, the issue of same-sex marriage in the U.S. has been somewhat put to rest. And what better way to honor equality than to celebrate it with the union of two people in love.